Hans: I’ve been meaning to see Tokyo Zombie for a while as I’m a big Asano fan and had heard good things about it.. this is encouraging. Is Mob Story the one with Andy Lau? If so, I have it and will be watching it this week. Other than Yau’s Untold story, I haven’t seen anything else by him I can think of off the top of my head. Yau’s later efforts have been Cat.III WKW eh? I’m sold in a BIG way.
Mattsuzaka: I personally HATED the signal, but to each their own I guess. Glad to see you liked the Royal Tramp. Have you ever seen God of Cookery? it’s pretty good; it’s the usual Chow fare, but is highly enjoyable..
Man all of this Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang talk really has got me wanting to see it..
Seven-ate-9/Mattsuzaka: I saw I’m a cyborg last year and it is the weakest of Park’s films; but with that being said it is still a pretty good, interesting film. It really is a departure for him. The usual Park flair is there, the technical aspects are all first class, and Rain(who is the Korean Justin Timberlake, and can be seen in Speed Racer and in the Wachowski’s upcoming Ninja Assassin) puts in a really good(and surprising) performance. I thought Cyborg was really good and sweet, but ran about 20-30 minutes too long and suffers from L.O.T.R syndrome with 3 or 4 endings, so by the actual end of the film you are worn out..
The Mist was easily one of my favorite films from last year.. Great stuff, good ensemble and EXCELLENT ending.
Hans: I knew it was too good to be true that I’d have this awesome gem sitting on my shelves unbeknownst to me. This is the one I have that had my fingers crossed that it was:
Hans: I knew it was too good to be true that I’d have this awesome gem sitting on my shelves unbeknownst to me. This is the one I have that had my fingers crossed that it was:
btw, have you ever watched running out of time? awesome HK cat and mouse flick...
OMG, an awesome flick—Lau Ching Wan and Andy Lau are stellar. Love this one. Incidentally, the sequel, which is really a remake, just demonstrates how good of an actor Lau is and how crappy of an actor Ekin Cheng is, imo. Late.
Hans: I knew it was too good to be true that I’d have this awesome gem sitting on my shelves unbeknownst to me. This is the one I have that had my fingers crossed that it was:
btw, have you ever watched running out of time? awesome HK cat and mouse flick...
OMG, an awesome flick—Lau Ching Wan and Andy Lau are stellar. Love this one. Incidentally, the sequel, which is really a remake, just demonstrates how good of an actor Lau is and how crappy of an actor Ekin Cheng is, imo. Late.
oh you mean Ekin “blank slate/HK’s less skilled, less emotive answer to Keanu Reeves” Cheng?
Hans: I knew it was too good to be true that I’d have this awesome gem sitting on my shelves unbeknownst to me. This is the one I have that had my fingers crossed that it was:
btw, have you ever watched running out of time? awesome HK cat and mouse flick...
OMG, an awesome flick—Lau Ching Wan and Andy Lau are stellar. Love this one. Incidentally, the sequel, which is really a remake, just demonstrates how good of an actor Lau is and how crappy of an actor Ekin Cheng is, imo. Late.
oh you mean Ekin “blank slate/HK’s less skilled, less emotive answer to Keanu Reeves” Cheng?
Yes, he’s the one. He shares space w/his colleague, Eason “I went to acting class for one day and lost my way there and ended up on the set of The Grudge 2, where I solidified my reputation, as completely untalented” Chan.
eck Eason Chan! the only movie he’s done that I even liked was Golden Chicken.. Apprently he’s quite the singer(although Canto-pop isn’t my thing). It’s funny how Louis Koo, Andy Lau and a host of others are huge pop stars in addition to being huge actors..
Mattsuzaka: I personally HATED the signal, but to each their own I guess. Glad to see you liked the Royal Tramp. Have you ever seen God of Cookery? it’s pretty good; it’s the usual Chow fare, but is highly enjoyable..
Man all of this Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang talk really has got me wanting to see it..
Seven-ate-9/Mattsuzaka: I saw I’m a cyborg last year and it is the weakest of Park’s films; but with that being said it is still a pretty good, interesting film. It really is a departure for him. The usual Park flair is there, the technical aspects are all first class, and Rain(who is the Korean Justin Timberlake, and can be seen in Speed Racer and in the Wachowski’s upcoming Ninja Assassin) puts in a really good(and surprising) performance. I thought Cyborg was really good and sweet, but ran about 20-30 minutes too long and suffers from L.O.T.R syndrome with 3 or 4 endings, so by the actual end of the film you are worn out..
The Mist was easily one of my favorite films from last year.. Great stuff, good ensemble and EXCELLENT ending.
Ive never seen God of Cookery but will definitely check it out…I didnt know all that much about Chow’s films until Shaolan Soccer which I really liked, and Kung fu Hustle which I LOVED. I really enjoy what I have seen of his work and will check out as much of it as I can. So thanks for the suggestion.
I still haven’t seen I’m a Cyborg yet but I did order it and should be seeing it soon. Even though I know it wont be one of the Revenge films I do just really look forward to seeing what I know will be a well shot film. And I would seriously consider Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy two of the best films that I have seen. Period. So with that said I will probably enjoy the film for at least technical reasons and I love the way he can tell a story with the camera and very little dialogue. It sounds like you liked it enough, and that is a positive also.
Watched a buncha junk recently. Here’s some standouts:
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: Dare I say it, but I think this is one of the best slashers of this decade (behind only, imo, Haute Tension and Fritt Vilt). The story is about the title character who is sweet, shy, and very physically attractive. Hence, the title. She is invited to a friend’s ranch for a weekend trip where the killings go on. Some of the dialogue is a bit daft, but overall, this is a v. entertaining recent American horror flick.
Dead Fury: this is FSudol’s follow-up to his equally creative City of Rott. The film is really a smart-aleck, animated (non-traditional animation) homage/parody of the Evil Dead series. It absolutely rocks. It’s about eighty minutes, but I could easily sit through another eighty minutes of this flick. Everyone should see FSudol’s two flicks.
Finally, I watched a true gem. Who Can Kill a Child? A Spanish horror flick from ‘76, directed by Narciso Ibanez Serrador. Very disturbing flick about an island of violent children. A couple tries to get off the island. Still packs a punch today, over thirty years later. A pitch-perfect film—I can’t think of any real flaws in this one. See it.
I’ve got Sion Sono’s latest to hit dvd—Exte. I can’t wait to watch it. Sono is easily one of Japan’s most exciting filmmakers. Late.
Finally, I watched a true gem. Who Can Kill a Child? A Spanish horror flick from ‘76, directed by Narciso Ibanez Serrador. Very disturbing flick about an island of violent children. A couple tries to get off the island. Still packs a punch today, over thirty years later. A pitch-perfect film—I can’t think of any real flaws in this one. See it.
Such a magnificently ill film. It never quite gets as sick as you might expect from teh title, but still leaves you reeling off doesn’t it?
Fritt Vilt (AKA Cold Prey) is something I’ve seen only recently - and I agree. Easily one of the better slashers of recent years, even if it’s mostly predictable, formulaic stuff. The scene with the hidden trap? I shrieked like a girl…
Sion Sono’s Hair Extensions (Exte): Really built this one up for myself after the director’s last three flicks and it was a bit of a let down. It’s a mixed bag. Chiaki Kuriyama plays a hair stylist, who is caring for her half-sister’s daughter. A corpse is found in a steel container, literally covered in human hair. The two stories intertwine. The film has really perfect parts and then some others just plain drag. About a three out of five for me.
Saw Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza’s REC: While no one has done the pseudo-documentary horror flick well since the orginal Cannibal Holocaust, this one comes damn close. The story is about a reporter and her cameraman who get locked in an apartment building while an outbreak occurs. The people turn into violent, raging creatures, ala 28 Days Later. Excellent film. Perfect pacing, acting, and storytelling. V. well shot, also. An American remake is coming soon, according to iMdb. I’m definitely skipping that one, since the original was so good. I’d rate it about a four/four-and-a-half out five. Late.
watched a few goodies(and not-so-goodies) over the past week:
Red Cliff: John Woo is f*cking back. As a fan of Asian cinema, I had started to grow weary of all of the big Pan-Asian period epics that were flooding the market(The Promise, The Banquet, H.O.F.D, Hero, Seven Swords, Warlords, Curse of the Golden flower, etc, etc.), but damn this was excellent. It has 2 of my favorite actors in the leads(Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro) as well as a slew of others that put in first class performances. There was a great little homage to Hard Boiled, with one of the prinicpals kicking ass with a baby in tow, and of course, a dove sequence(what would a Woo film be without one?). All in all I’m licking my lips at part 2 of this epic.. The sad thing is that the 2 films are being condensed into one film for North America, which will probably remove a lot of the character development and historical perspective the 2 larger films bring..
Force:Five-this was another 25 cent VHS special I picked up at a local yard sale, and it was a lot of fun. Robert Clouse decided to rehash his Enter the Dragon from a few years prior(not to mention Jim Kelly’s Hot Potato), throw some skilled gweilos(non-Asians) into the mix, and have them infiltrate a religious cult to overthrow their ruthless M.A trained leader. Joe Lewis(who is one of five men to ever defeat Chuck Norris in a match) is the lead, he is sort of like a more charismatic and more skilled version of the Dudikoff, we have Aussie Richard Norton, who is also very proficient in M.A, and has an awesome shuriken necklace that comes in handy from time to time, Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez, as well as a few others in supporting roles. Interestingly, Amanda Wyss(Tina from Nightmare on Elm Street), has an early role as a senator’s daughter who has joined the cult and needs rescuing.. This one didn’t disappoint..
Son of Rambow: I’d been stoked to see this for a while as I’d heard good things from trusted sources, but I was pretty let down. It’s like a diet Gondry/heart warming Boyle type film, that didn’t flesh out the characters enough or their situations. It was content to get by with the 80’s music and costumes for most of it’s run time… I dunno, I expected something at least as good as Be kind, rewind(which was also a let down) or The science of sleep, but it lacked the heart and brains of either and came off a little half baked. There were a few good moments, but meh on the whole…
I’ll be watching a couple of films out of the Lupin the Third: Final Haul boxset later. I meant to watch them earlier, but the new series of The X-Factor was packed full of Grade-A delusional misfits (many of them in need of throat operations), and MOTD is on soon, so…
Oh my god. I actually found stuff to watch on british TV. Wow.
watched a few goodies(and not-so-goodies) over the past week:
Son of Rambow: I’d been stoked to see this for a while as I’d heard good things from trusted sources, but I was pretty let down. It’s like a diet Gondry/heart warming Boyle type film, that didn’t flesh out the characters enough or their situations. It was content to get by with the 80’s music and costumes for most of it’s run time… I dunno, I expected something at least as good as Be kind, rewind(which was also a let down) or The science of sleep, but it lacked the heart and brains of either and came off a little half baked. There were a few good moments, but meh on the whole…
Star Wars Clone Wars was pretty good for family viewing. Lacked depth or , or , or , or… Any how I only saw a could of things fan-boys might freak out about. I loved the new “painting technique” Very nice change from the smoothed out 3D stuff you typically see in cartoon type movies.
Tropic Thunder - I loved it. I am not a comic fan, but it was a blast. Don’t read or watch anything about it!
Some of the BEST timing & surprises in this movie has already been blabbed about in the media! They ruin the best parts of movies MUCH too often these days. (more on Tropic Thunder in VM)
About to watch some horror-wannabe-stuff: The Secret and Rouge. Wish me luck….
I ended up watching 30 Days of Night instead. Decent action, fair performances, some really chilling moments, but a candidate for most poorly edited genre movie of the last few years and at least three pointless supporting cxharacters too many. Disappointing.
